| Number of cancer patients swell in JK but few gets financial assistance of Govt schemes | | Among miniscule number of beneficiaries, majority are from valley | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 8: Though the number of cancer patients in Jammu and Kashmir has recorded an increase but very few patients have managed to get the financial assistance provided to the cancer patients under a Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
More surprisingly out of the miniscule number of beneficiaries, majority are from Kashmir valley while most of the Jammu patients have not been able to get that benefit too, raising a serious question over the conduct of the authorities.
According to the details available with the Early Times, the estimated incidence of cancer cases in Jammu and Kashmir was reported as 15652 in 2016, 16480 in 2017 and 17351 in the year 2018.
Under an umbrella scheme Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN), the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides financial assistance upto Rs. 15 Lakhs for treatment of Below Poverty Line (BPL) patients suffering from identified life threatening diseases including cancer/ rare diseases and taking treatment in Government hospitals. Out of the total reported cases of cancer patients in JK, a good number would be BPL patients but very few have got financial assistance. As per the date provided by the Health department, a total of 62 patients had got benefit of RAN in J&K in the year 2018-19 out of which 61 patients are from Kashmir while only one patient is from Jammu. All the 61 patients from Kashmir valley who had got benefit of RAN scheme were admitted in SKIMS while one patient from Jammu had got benefit in Government Medical College Jammu.
Moreover five patients from Jammu had got benefit of scheme in the year 2017-18 at GMC Jammu, while in the same time, 50 patients from SKIMS had got benefit of the scheme. Similarly in year 2016-17, 25 patients from Kashmir valley had got benefit at SKIMS while in Jammu not even a single patient had got the benefit. Moreover similar was the condition in GSMHS of Jammu, where five patients had got benefit in two years 2016-17 and 2017-18.
"The schemes of Union government are for both the regions but from the data it infers that the authorities in Kashmir valley are more friendly to the patients and help them to tap the benefits of government schemes while in Jammu the authorities as well as patients have been failed to get benefit of the government schemes, which is evident from the data of RAN", an official said, adding that it was the responsibility of the authorities to provide benefits to the poor masses. |
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